Be present.

• To motivate your students, give them brief weekly or topic-based overviews on what has been covered and what will be covered next, and provide them with information and tips. Send it to them in writing (by email or in a dedicated forum in the ADAM workspace), or prepare a short video or audio message that you then upload to ADAM or send as a link.

• Create a forum on ADAM for all organizational announcements. Set up this forum so that all posts are also sent to students via email. This will keep them up to date and enable them to access all information again later.

• Help your students with any issues and empower them to resolve them independently (motivation, time management, etc.).

Create a good working atmosphere and help students create social ties among themselves.

• Welcome your students to the workspace on ADAM; e.g. by adding a welcome text to the landing page.

• Ensure that the ADAM workspace is clear and easy to navigate, and explain where the respective modules and materials can be found and how to use them.

• For exclusively virtual courses in particular, we recommend that a “get to know each other” forum is set up that will allow everybody – including you, the lecturer – to briefly introduce themselves. This forum can also be used by students to exchange experiences on an informal basis throughout the course. This helps to create social ties among the course participants (resulting in the creation of a learning community).

• For group learning, we recommend that the settings for the participant list and participant profiles are amended in the ADAM workspace (after consultation with the students), so the students can see who else is in the workspace and are able to contact each other accordingly.

Foster interactivity and give feedback.

• When making learning materials available, tell students what you expect them to do with the materials.

  • For example, give them guiding questions whose answers will become clear while using the materials.

  • You could prompt a discussion on the content in the forum. Ideally, the students should seek to help each other, not solely ask questions. Keep in mind that a forum requires active participation. In student group discussions, provide them with insights, link them to suitable course content or make additional learning materials available as part of your answering posts. You can also support communication; e.g. refer back to the topic at hand, resolve conflict between students and assist them with any minor technical issues.

• Give students the chance to receive feedback on their general learning progress (e.g. through formative quizzes on ADAM, participation in discussions in forums, peer feedback on completed tasks, feedback from lecturers/assistants on specific exercises).